Mary Russell
Eleventh Hour, Eleventh Day
[For information on the US giveaway of Justice Hall, scroll down to the bottom of this post.] 100 years ago today, one minute before the 11/11/11:00 Armistice officially began, American Henry Gunther set off on a one-man charge of a German machine gun guarding a road block in France, and became the Great War’s final…
Read MoreHeaven is dry stockings
Commemorating the end of the Great War, 100 years ago this weekend. From Justice Hall The War journal of Lt. Gabriel Hughenfort 28 January Never have I imagined cold such as this. Even the frost-rimed dugout the officers share seems an oasis of warmth. Heaven is dry stockings, even if they are caked with dirt.…
Read MoreDulce et Decorum
100 years ago, the Great War was in its dying week. Wilfred Owen was killed on the 4thof November. All the commanders-in-chief agreed the war was over–but on the ground, the struggle went on, and on. I wrote a novel, Justice Hall, about a young officer, and included sections of his war-time journal: Justice Hall,…
Read MoreThe Community of ISLAND
So, it’s three weeks since Island of the Madwas published; did you enjoy it? Now that you’ve read Ms Russell’s 15thmemoir, have you revisited the background images of her London and Venice? There’s a Pinterest page here, with a few others on Instagram. Perhaps you’d like to talk about Island of the Mad? You’re in luck,…
Read MoreMADness and Melania
As I’ve mentioned before, Island of the Mad, though originally intended as an escape from the events of 2017, has become all too relevant to daily life. Take the recent fashion choice of our First Lady as she set out to comfort a group of underage political prisoners: As various writers have pointed out (here and…
Read MoreCole Porter & Sherlock Holmes, Misbehaving
Whenever I set out to write one of my 1920s novels, I first choose the location, then rummage around to see who was there at the time. I’ve come across some fascinating characters that way–characters in both senses of the word: Sabine Baring-Gould in Dartmoor; Dashiell Hammett in San Francisco; Marshal Lyautey in Morocco—real life,…
Read MoreCover(s) reveal
[Cue the bump-and-grind strip-tease music…] So, what should arrive but a nice lumpy packet from my publishers… And what do I see inside? Ooh, could it be… The spines are purple! Aahhh, such pretty things! **** Where do I get my copy of Island of the Mad? US edition—signed, from Poisoned Pen Books; signed, from…
Read MoreIslands, of the mad
[four weeks from today…] Not to give any spoilers here, but…parts of Island of the Mad take place on, you know, islands. And a rather surprising number of those islands are inhabited by the certified insane. Yes, lunatic asylums, in the Venice lagoon. Who knew? Well, I did, for one, before I went last year.…
Read More103 years ago today…
…two people met on a patch of countryside: I was fifteen when I first met Sherlock Holmes, fifteen years old with my nose in a book as I walked the Sussex Downs, and nearly stepped on him. In my defence I must say it was an engrossing book, and it was very rare to come across…
Read MoreBEEKEEPER among the greats!
I was greatly honored to find that The Beekeeper’s Apprentice has been given a place among the Goodreads 100 Top Mysteries, here. Looking at all those other names–Christie and Conan Doyle among them–both makes me think, Yeah there’s some mistake there and makes me very proud and happy. How many of the books have you read?
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